Friday, June 22, 2012

A few minutes ago I came within inches of being taken out by a large truck while I was bicycling. "taken out" being a polite euphemism for severely mangled or killed. Of course a small car could have done the job as easily as a big truck, but to me it would add insult to injury for a big gas guzzling truck to be the one wiping out the bicycle. On the positive side, he didn't appear to be on his cell phone.

I was headed south down Preston, and had just crossed College Drive. The truck was turning right from east bound on College to south bound on Preston.

He was totally oblivious, I don't think he saw me at all, despite my ending up close enough to reach out and slap him. Actually that's not quite true since he was about three feet higher than me, which might have had something to do with him not seeing me. Probably wouldn't even have noticed the slight bump as he drove over me. Disappointingly, I don't think he saw me give him the finger as he roared away either.

Ironically, Preston has a "bike lane", and I was riding in it. Of course, the bike lane disappears in the intersection. And at best it consists of some faded paint markings on the road. Cyclists know about it, but I sincerely doubt most drivers have any awareness of the bike lane, which means it's of little value in protecting cyclists.

There is also a multi-use path which is physically separated from the road. But it wouldn't have helped since you still have to cross in front of the right turners.

There's no question this is a high traffic intersection. But it's also a well travelled route for pedestrians and cyclists getting off and on campus.

It seems to me that the way to prevent this would be to put a speed bump or a raised, textured crossing to encourage drivers to slow down. Which, no doubt, would cause drivers to scream bloody murder. Instead, we give the right turners a smooth curved path so they can keep their speed up.

It was, predictably, partly my own fault. I've ridden this route many times and I was deep in thought. I know better than that. The automobiles don't look out for us, so we'd better watch for them. Not that that excuses the driver from taking the corner too fast and oblivious of a cyclist.

I recently read that Copenhagen has more bicycles than people. Saskatoon, on the other hand, recently attained the dubious distinction of having more cars than people. Not to mention the overwhelming percentage of trucks and SUV's. Sigh.